RuPaul Put A Decoy Album on Torrenting Sites to Confront Illegal Downloaders…

Keeping your albums off of illegal torrenting sites is a never-ending and difficult task. So why not beat file-sharers to the punch?

RuPaul uploaded a decoy version of his new album, Born Naked, to multiple torrent sites.

The tracks seem normal at first, but then RuPaul chimes in with “girrrrl, you done stole my album!”, calling out those who’ve tried to download his work for free. He tells listeners that if they admire or want to support him they should buy his music so he can make a living, saying “the real political power is right up here on the cash register”.

This is what RuPaul had to say about the decoy:

“We work so hard on this music… So we thought, why not flood the torrents with a decoy album that educates consumers on why it’s important to buy music.”

Hear one of the decoy tracks, uploaded by a Tumblr user with the caption: “I DOWNLOADED THE WHOLE ALBUM ILLEGALLY AND THERE IS RUPAUL ON THIS TRACK TELLING ME TO BUY IT OH MY GOD I AM SO EMBARRASSED RIGHT NOW”.

The decoy ploy isn’t the first of its kind. Perhaps most notably, Madonna once used a similar tactic to shame illegal downloaders, though it’s unclear if that garnered more mockery than guilt.

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I’ve done this several times with big releases, and the results were fantastic; not only were fans and press all about it and laughing, it sold about 10-15% more units than estimated, which we all concluded was due to the fake leak and having fun with it.

Pretty sad…..loads of people download albums, realise the album is pure crap (3 good songs…the rest filler tracks written to fit in with the “record label four album deal”. If an album`s good, it will sell. Artists seem to assimilate downloads with sales…I download loads of albums and give them a quick listen. If it`s good then I`ll buy it. Simples. Stop bigging yourself up so much. As for Madonna, why release red vinyls, limited (huh) editions, pic discs etc. if your intention is not pure materialism. She is a material girl alright.x

“…buy his music so he can make a living.” What a joke comment. Like RuPaul isn’t already making enough money as it is. Hell, look at actual artists/musicians who made their own music like Radiohead who released their album for free. They make a good enough living without TV show specials.

IRA……Thom Yorke has already stated that was a bad idea in hindsight and it wasn’t “for free” it was “pay what you want” and guess what…I paid for it and you didn’t because I respect them and you don’t.